ISSUE DETAILS

Cover Description: Booster Gold and Teen Titans Robin, Kid Flash, Starfire, and Raven can be seen in the blank right half of Deathstroke the Terminator. This cover is thematically similar to a recent cover of The Brave and the Bold, Vol. 2, #23, also drawn by Dan Jurgens.

ANNOTATIONS

Page 4, panel 4Picking up immediately where we last left our hero in the previous issue, Rip Hunter arrives via Time Sphere, joining Booster Gold and Skeets in the Batcave. Judging by Booster's comments, even Booster is beginning to doubt Rip Hunter's theories of "solidified time." More on this current crisis later.

Page 5, panel 3As the Time Sphere surfs through the timestream, it passes evidence of the current faulty history: Batman patrols Gotham City alongside Batgirl, not Robin; Sinestro has taken Hal Jordan's place at a Justice League meeting; and Ted Kord is seen as the Red Beetle.

Page 6, panel 1Booster Gold and Skeets arrive at the S.T.A.R. Labs in Manhattan. Booster has a long history with S.T.A.R. Labs himself, having often interacted with the S.T.A.R. Labs branch in Metropolis which looks identical to the Manhattan branch. How can one tell this is the Manhattan branch and not the Metropolis branch? Read on.

Page 7, panel 2A PAIR OF DOCS?: The Ravager assaults Cyborg within the Manhattan branch of S.T.A.R. Labs as originally seen in 1980's The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2 (Page 16, panel 1, to be precise.) Of course, Skeets wasn't there the first time around. (While this is Cyborg's first meeting with Booster Gold, Booster Gold's first on-panel appearance with Cyborg is in Justice League America #40, at the funeral of Mister Miracle.)

Page 7, panel 3HIS STORY: Booster laments being called a "night watchman" by "security 'bot" Skeets despite the fact that when they first met, Booster was a night watchman and Skeets was a security 'bot.

Page 8, panel 3FASHION ALERT: Skeets introduces Booster to Cyborg as "S.T.A.R. Labs Security," causing Cyborg to assume that the star on Booster's chest is related to S.T.A.R. Labs. Really, it's as good an explanation as any for Booster's symbol of choice. (In 20+ years of appearances, no one has ever previously questioned why a man calling himself Booster Gold wears a star on his chest. Booster addressed it once before, in Booster Gold, Vol. 1, #9, when he admitted that he originally wanted to be called Goldstar. At that time, his star was partially gold.)

Page 8, panel 6Despite Booster's intervention in this fight, Ravager still manages to get Cyborg in a choke hold...

Page 9, panel 1...spout a brief soliloquy about how rough his life is...

Page 9, panel 2...allowing Cyborg time to regroup...

Page 9, panel 4...and defeat Ravager, all as seen in nearly identical consecutive panels in The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2, pages 16 through 17. This loyalty to the original depiction of the Teen Titans' battle with ravager will continue throughout the rest of this issue. It's easy to see that Dan Jurgens clearly has an affinity for the Teen Titans of Marv Wolfman and George Perez. But that's no surprise, as Jurgens based the characters Benny and Marty in the first volume of Booster Gold on Wolfman and Perez.

Page 10, panel 4Deathstroke the Terminator and Black Beetle appear on the scene. Just as Booster was unable to help Cyborg change history, Black Beetle appears to be of little aid to Deathstroke, who easily defeats the heroes by himself. The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2 marks the first appearance of Deathstroke the Terminator in the story "Today... The Terminator!". At the time, Deathstroke was called simply called "Terminator." In fact, the only time in this issue that anyone mentions the name "Deathstroke" is when Skeets explains future events in Titans' history to Booster.

Page 11, panel 6Booster is not lying when he comments "S.T.A.R. equipped me well." Like many heroes in the DC Universe, Booster owes much of his continued adventuring to the scientists and technology employed by S.T.A.R. Labs. In fact, at various points in Booster's career, he has worn arms and armor and power supplies designed by S.T.A.R. Labs.

Page 12, panel 1Booster and Cyborg arrive at the East Hampton, New York (so-called "Playground of the Rich") home of Steve Drayton, one of the world's richest men and adoptive father of Titan Garfield Logan, aka Changeling. Contrary to Cyborg's comments, while the building is indeed ornate, it does not actually look like the famous Taj Mahal of India, nor is it intended to serve as a mausoleum for anyone.

Page 12, panel 5Booster assumes that Raven showing Ravager "a reality where he succeeds in killing all the Titans" is the loophole needed for circumventing Hunter's "solidified time" theory. However, while Raven, as an extra-dimensional being, is capable of traveling between dimensions, she can't manipulate time. If it was Raven's ability to show someone a glimpse of an alternate dimension that allowed time to be manipulated around the event, then Rip Hunter's theories need some re-evaluation. In the DC Universe, alternate dimensions exist constantly alongside one another. If every glimpse between the dimensional walls to alternate realities is all it takes to re-write history, so long as characters have access to powers like Raven's dimensional travel ability (common examples include mystical powered heroes and villains, the Boom Tubes of the New Gods, and Flash's Cosmic Treadmill), time in the DC Universe isn't very solid at all.

Page 13, panel 1Booster and Cyborg interrupt the pool-side lounging of Teen Titans (left to right) Starfire, Robin, Changeling, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash. The characters are all wearing the swimwear that the were depicted wearing in The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2, with some noticeable changes. Specifically, Robin and Kid Flash are wearing trunks, not the briefs they were originally depicted wearing and Starfire's bikini was originally colored red, not the shiny violet color closely associated with her costumes. (This color change is likely attributable to modern coloring techniques unavailable at the time of the original issue's publication.) All-in-all, not bad for referencing fashion 30 years out of date.

Page 13, panel 2Earlier in this issue, Skeets' refused to tell one Titan, Cyborg, Booster's name. Now Booster tells all of the assembled Titans that his name is Michael, his actual name. For a time-travelling hero whose first rule is to protect the secret that he's a time-travelling hero, Booster still has a lot to learn.

Page 13, panel 4Just as he already has earned Wonder Girl's disdain, Booster has never seen eye-to-eye with Wonder Woman, either. Though, as Skeets points out, it is probably because Booster doesn't often look at Wonder Woman's eyes.

Page 16, panel 1The Teen Titans and Booster Gold face Deathstroke, Ravager, and Black Beetle. Despite the additional help of the time-traveling heroes and villains, the battle will play out over the next few pages nearly identically as previous seen in The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2, until...

Page 18, panel 5...Black Beetle intercedes, bestowing chronal energy on Ravager and changing the course of recorded history.

Page 20, panel 1ALTERNATE REALITY: This panel is nearly identical to the aforementioned vision that Raven showed the defeated Ravager in The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2. However, this is no vision, and Raven is nowhere to be found.

REVIEWS

Boosterrific Review: This is a good comic book. To fans of the Teen Titans, this will be a great comic book.

Longtime readers of the work of Dan Jurgens will no doubt be aware of his affinity for Marv Wolfman's and George Perez's New Teen Titans of the early 1980s. This issue pushes Jurgens' affinity past the line separating "fan" from "stalker," as Booster Gold directly interacts with the events of New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2. This is as creative a celebration of the past and present of the DC Universe as we're likely to see.

Boosterrific Rating:

Currently 5.0/5 Stars.

Boosterrific!

Average Fan Rating:

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.

(1 vote)

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.

KMD (Dec. 1, 2009, 20:35:08)Some funny scenes to be sure (the scene with Booster drooling over Starfire and Wonder Girl's remarks about it are priceless).

YOUR OPINION

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